A network of threads or of a yarn is woven together to form a textile, which is typically a flexible fabric. This weaving process is facilitated by use of a loom. A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads.
A loom comprises a ‘template’ known as warp yarn, which is a lengthwise parallel configuration of yarn threads upon and through which a weft yarn is woven. The weft yarn is the yarn, which provides to cause the woven fabric in accordance with pre-defined shapes and settings of the loom. Typically, a warp yarn comprises two planes of yarn thread such that the two planes are spaced apart for the weft yarn to pass through. Typically, a shuttle i.e. a housing for a bobbin (kandi) (bobbin is a thread bearing rod such that the thread is wound around the rod, and one end of the thread is free to be unwound from the bobbin (kandi) and be used for weaving purposes) moves between the space between the parallel planes formed by the warp yarn, in order to weave a fabric.
A rapier loom is a shuttleless weaving loom in which the filling yarn is carried through the shed of warp yarns to the other side of the loom by finger-like carriers called rapiers. One type has a single long rapier that reaches across the loom's width to carry the filling to the other side. Another type has two small rapiers, one on each side. One rapier carries the filling yarn halfway through the shed, where it is met by the other rapier, which carries the filling the rest of the way across the loom.
A stationary package of yarn is used to supply the weft yarns in the rapier machine. One end of a rapier, a rod or steel tape, carries the weft yarn. The other end of the rapier is connected to the control system. The rapier moves across the width of the fabric, carrying the weft yarn across through the shed to the opposite side. The rapier is then retracted, leaving the new pick in place.
Rapier Loom.
Rapier machines weave more rapidly than most shuttle machines but more slowly than most other projectile machines. An important advantage of rapier machines is their flexibility, which permits the laying of picks of different colors. They also weave yarns of any type of fiber.